1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a assembly for a current limiting high voltage fuse, comprising a preferably tubular support body consisting of quartz glass and fusible conductors attached over their entire length to the support body.
2. The Prior Art
A similar assembly is known from published Dutch Patent application No. 7802199. Fuses which have been manufactured with one or more of the above-mentioned assemblies present a number of advantages, such as simple and compact construction, in particular when concentric tubes are used for the support body. The fusible conductors are less vulnerable, due to their support by the support body, and a better arcextinguishing action is obtained as a consequence of the smaller space. Besides, quartz glass has the advantage that also with high temperatures the insulation resistance hardly decreases, while it has a low coefficient of expansion.
However, fuses manufactured with such an assembly are not suitable to be used as current limiting fuses in high frequency networks, in particular because of their inability to effectively interrupt low overload currents. Low overload currents are those which lie somewhere between twofold and tenfold of the rated current. When a low overload current is not effectively interrupted, that is to say when the low overload current can flow over a too long time through the fuse, the generated arc energy can become so large that eventually the fuse will explode.